God wanted them to look for him and perhaps search all around for him and find him. But he is not far from any of us.—Acts 17:27 (ICB)

A student was out sick for three weeks in Advanced English Grammar, a course my students say is the hardest they’ve ever taken. Throughout my student’s illness, she emailed me repeatedly, sometimes wielding ALL CAPS. Her apparent anger irked me, but I made myself respond encouragingly each time, offering class updates and prayers for her recovery. I prayed then and there, knowing that the second my fingers hit “Send” her plight would whoosh off into the louder needs of my other students: appointments coming up, an announcement about syllabus changes I needed to send, piles of tests and papers yelping “Grade me!” 

Upon my student’s return, I advised her to drop my course. “Grammar builds one week to the next,” I said. To my amazement, my student was relieved. She wanted to drop but didn’t want to disappoint me. 

“I’m not disappointed!” I reassured her. “You can’t succeed this semester, but you will next year.” 

Later I got another email from her, more ALL CAPS than ever, thanking me for my emailed prayers and reporting that she’d been praying for me ever since our first course together years earlier. “YOU are not forgotten, even when you think you are,” she concluded. Wow. I felt so unworthy, so loved. 

How cleverly God circulates among us, hovering always nearby, like a teacher among blindfolded children, guiding them closer to the goal, keeping them from hurting one another.